


We're All Survivors Now | Volume One - The Beginning of The End

by Cryptid1



Category: Overwatch (Video Game), The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Age Changes, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Blood and Gore, Death, Drama, Gen, Inspired by The Walking Dead, Survival, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-27 12:53:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7618789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cryptid1/pseuds/Cryptid1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack Morrison, Gabriel Reyes, and Ana Amari. Three security guards in Columbus who also happened to be close friends. Jack was a charismatic man, praised in his line of work for his leadership skills and his willingness to help others who needed it most. Gabriel was a secret vigilante, using his hacking skills for what he claims to be "the good of others". Ana was a single mother, caring about her young daughter Fareeha more than anything else in the world.<br/>Now, when a catastrophe occurs that destroys life as they know it, these three people aren't exactly who they once were. They're not security guards, civilians, vigilantes, single parents, or anything like that anymore. Now, they're just survivors in a broken world. Jack will continue fighting for others, Gabriel will keep doing what he thinks is right no matter the cost, and Ana will still be looking out for her family, and all of them will learn how to survive in the beginning of the end.</p><p>Latest Chapter: "Wildfire" - Jack, Gabriel, Ana and Fareeha are forced to fend for themselves in a dangerous new world, with limited supplies and little protection from the new threats. However, the quartet of survivors soon discover that they're not alone...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Life We Once Knew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack Morrison, Gabriel Reyes, and Ana Amari come across a disturbing secret, one that could threaten their lives as they know it. Now, they must leave Columbus before it's too late... or die trying.

Jack was running, running as fast as he could as Gabriel and Ana, Fareeha in her arms, ran alongside him. The sounds of explosions rang out around them, smoke and ash filled the air, and the screams and groans of hundreds of people, alive or not, sounded out throughout the city.

As they ran through the clouds of smoke and rubble, Jack wondered how in the hell this all happened so fast...

 

* * * Yesterday, 10:08 PM * * *

 

Jack Morrison sat in his armchair, just relaxing after a long day at his job as a security guard and watching the evening news roll on.

_'Reports of individuals behaving violently, almost animalistic, are continuing to pop up around the country. While some new kind of drug has been suspected as the cause, no toxicology reports on any individuals have been released as of yet. Recently, officers in Atlanta were forced to shoot a man who attacked several individuals-'_

Jack changed the channel, not wishing to hear about yet another one of these incidents. It all started about a week ago, when a story about someone going completely crazy and charging at people in Los Angeles popped up and made headlines. Ever since then, more cases of these crazed people attacking others for no apparent reason kept surfacing. As of now there had to be nearly 80 confirmed reports around the country, but there were rumors that the government was covering up hundreds of these incidents. Jack wasn't the type to think about all of these conspiracies though, preferring to stick with what was confirmed.

The sound of the doorbell drew Jack's attention away from the television. Getting up and fixing his ruffled blonde hair, he headed over to the front door to see who it was. He opened the door, and was greeted by the face of his friend and co-worker, Gabriel Reyes, with a duffle bag in his hand and a concerned expression on his face. He was dressed in all black, like he often did, wearing long pants and a hoodie, along with a beanie and boots.

"Gabe? What're you-" Jack started before Gabriel entered the apartment, throwing the duffle bag onto the kitchen counter as he opened it up and started rummaging through it.

"Gabe, what the hell are you doing?" Jack said as he approached him.

"Okay, look, it's hard to explain. Just let me get this up." Gabe said as he pulled his laptop out of the bag and opened it up, going through his files.

"Okay so, don't freak out, but I kinda hacked some government files-"

"You did **what**???"

"Let me _finish_ , please. So, I hacked into the files, and I found.... something. Here, look." he said, prompting Jack to come over and look. On the screen was some kind of document. It didn't have any long sentences though, just jumbled up codewords, strange phrases, and a few coordinates

"Alright, so I'm not quite sure what this all means, but I'm gonna say it's something **big**. See these coords? Lemme just put them into Google Earth..." Gabe said, opening up said program as he inputted one set of coords. Within a few moments, the set of coordinates zoomed them in on some random area of Los Angeles.

"Um, okay, that's weird. What do the other coords read?"

"Hold on, lemme check a few more of these, there's gotta be some pattern here..."

Gabriel continuously put in coordinates, pulling up multiple locations in the country. Among the locations were Manhattan, Atlanta, San Diego, Dallas, Minneapolis, and-

"Wait, there's coords for Columbus here?"

"Yeah. Also, lemme just dig a little through here and.... look, it's a date. 9/14/37. Now Jack, tell me what that is."

"Tomorrow."

"Mhm. Also, there's a time, 13:35, 1:45 PM. Now, I have no idea what the hell this is, but it's something big. And to be completely honest, I'm not sure if I want to stick around for it. I mean, why are the coordinates so specific? And why are there like 20 different locations in each city? It's like they're putting something there..."

"...or _dropping_ something." Jack suddenly realized, a bit horrified at the ideas that began swirling around in his head.

"You don't think..." Gabe said, starting to become equally freaked out. The two stared at each other for a few moments, seemingly having similar ideas in mind, before Jack spoke up.

"Okay, if this is _really_ what we're thinking, we need to get out of town, ASAP. Here's what we do, we go get Ana first thing tomorrow, gather up some supplies if we need to stay out of civilization for a while, and we need to do all this and leave before 1:45 tomorrow." Jack said.

"Alright, would you rather me stay over here tonight."

"Actually.... yeah, it'll probably be easier if you just stay over so we can both head out tomorrow."

"Okay, thanks. Also, Jack, mind if I use one of your hammers for a second?" Gabe asked, although he got up and grabbed a rubber mallet from one of the drawers anyways.

"Um, why do you- HEY!!" Jack said, stopping Gabriel from smashing the computer with the mallet.

"What?? I'm destroying the evidence."

"Well, we kinda need to show Ana this. You know as well as I do that she's not gonna believe a word of this unless we show her the proof."

"Oh, right. Well that was close, thanks. Anyways, how comfortable is your couch? I'm about ready to doze off."

 

* * * Today, 10:13 AM * * *

 

Jack drove through the bustling Columbus streets in his dark-silver Corolla 2015, Gabriel in the passenger seat and a few packed bags in the trunk. While Gabriel was wearing pretty much the same clothes he was wearing yesterday, Jack was wearing a navy blue leather jacket, white t-shirt and dark pants.

"So, how're we gonna tell Ana this?" Gabriel said.

"Um, probably the same way you did. By barging through her front door, showing her the document, and _then_ you can smash the computer." Jack chuckled, prompting Gabe to do the same.

"Yeah, I'm definitely going to smash that computer. Reason #1, it's probably a good idea to get rid of the evidence. Reason #2, I just _really_  wantto smash a computer." Gabriel said, both of the laughing. Afterwards, a few silent moments of driving through the city passed by before Jack decided to strike up another conversation.

"Okay, so about this whole situation... what exactly is the worst-case scenario from all of the evidence we can see?" Jack said. Gabriel stayed silent for a minute, seemingly thinking over the situation before speaking up.

"Okay, this _may_ be a bit of a stretch, but I'm thinking that the worst thing that could be going on here is that there's going to be..... we can talk about this more when we meet up with Ana."

"Yeah, okay." Jack said simply.

Several more minutes of silence, somewhat awkward in nature, passed before they came into the Central Hilltop neighborhood, the surroundings becoming much more suburban.

Soon afterwards, they came up on the street that Ana's home was on, and within a couple minutes of driving down said road they came up on her house. Parking on the curb, Jack and Gabriel got out of the car, Gabe grabbing his computer out fo the truck while Jack went ahead up to the front door. Jack rung the doorbell as Gabriel came up to the entrance. Within a few moments, Ana came up to the door. She was already dressed to go to work, wearing her security uniform, her long black hair neatly let loose.

"Guys? Why are you here? And you're not dressed for work, what's going on?"

"Ana, we need to talk about something." Jack said, him and Gabriel walking into the house as Ana stepped to the side.

"What? What're you guys talking about?" she said as she followed them into the living room, where Gabriel had already begun setting up his computer on the coffee table.

"It's kinda hard to explain. Look, come over here." Gabe said, ushering Ana over to the couch next to him and Jack.

"What is all of this?" Ana said as she looked at the strange document with many jumbled up words and random phrases and numbers.

"Last night, I hacked into a government database-"

"You did _what_? Are you crazy??"

"A little bit, yeah. But anyways, I didn't tell Jack about this but I got a tip from a guy who knows a guy in the government about a collection of files, but I was only able to get a little bit of one of them. But from what I've got, I've got a pretty good idea of what this might be. Here, lemme show you."

Gabriel and Jack then proceeded to show Ana everything, namely the coordinates and numbers that read out a date and time.

"What the hell..."

"So, given that there's around twenty "random" coordinates all over our city and a bunch of other major ones, and a set date and time for _something_ , I'm not liking whatever this is. Look, call me crazy.... but I think that this is for some kind of attack."

"What?? Why would there be an attack?"

"I'm honestly not quite sure, but there's been a lot of strange shit going on lately. You know, with all these people going crazy. I know that people are saying that this is some kind of drug or something, but I think.... I think there's something going around, and it's making people act like this."

"What, like a disease?" Jack said.

"Yeah, something like that. So long story short, I think that the government might be trying to stop a pandemic, and they're using some drastic fucking measures to do so."

"Really? How can you be so sure that this "guy who knows a guy" isn't just someone screwing with you?"

"Listen, Ana, I know this may be hard to understand but you've gotta trust us."

"Look, you're my friends and all but I've gotta get to work. You want to run around with your conspiracies then that's fine with me, but I-"

Everyone went silent when they heard the sound of something, or someone, scratching at the back door. The three of them crept over into the kitchen and saw an older lady apparently clawing slowly at the door, making weird gurgling and snarling sounds as she did.

"Ms. Whitebeam? Are you okay?" Ana called out to her.

"Ana who the hell is that?" Gabe said through his teeth.

"It's my neighbor, I don't know what she's doing in my yard though." Ana said as she approached the door, Jack and Gabriel not far behind. Ana then reached towards the doorknob, turning it and slowly starting to open the door.

"Ms. Whitebeam? Are you-" Ana started saying, and then screamed as the older woman grabbed her and began growling and snarling at her. Ana fell on to the floor, the older woman grabbing at her and gnashing her teeth, seemingly trying to bite her in the face as Ana held her back.

Both men immediately sprung into action, Jack grabbing the older lady and helping Ana throw her off, while Gabriel went for his bag for something. Gabriel then came back with the rubber mallet, charging at the woman and smacking her in the head with it. Strangely, the first hit didn't knock her down. Gabriel hand to hold the crazy old woman against the wall as he repeatedly hit her in the head, blood and bits of flesh beginning to splatter the more he hit.

After hitting her in the head more times than he could count, creating a gruesome hole in the side of her head, the old woman eventually stopped snarling and grabbing at Gabriel. He let go of her body, letting it collapse as blood and some bits of brain and bone smeared against the wall.

"What the f- **fuck**. You...you just-" Ana stuttered for a few moments, and then proceeded to collapse onto her hands and knees and vomit on the floor from the sight of the old lady, her head bashed in and bloody.

"That lady... that lady was _not_ normal." Gabriel said, wiping the sweat and blood spots off of his face.

"What do you mean?" Jack said, helping Ana up.

"I don't know man, she just looked.... _empty_ or something. There was just nothing in those eyes, those goddamn _eyes_. And did you see how many times I had to hit her before she went down? No normal person her age could take that many hits to the head."

"Okay," Ana said, coughing a little as she managed to stand up straight, "I think I believe you now."

"Good. Ana, you need to go get Fareeha from school. You can take my car, Gabe and I'll stay here and try to clean this up before you get back. When you get back, we can gather up some supplies here. We've already gotten some stuff from my place, so once we're done here we can go get stuff from Gabe's place and then we'll go buy some other supplies." Jack said, handing his car keys to Ana.

"Alright, I'll be back in a little bit. You two be careful, who knows if anyone else in this neighborhood's sick."

"Yeah, and you better be careful too." Gabriel said, digging through the sink cabinet for some cleaning supplies as Ana hurried out the door.

"Right, now how the hell do we clean this up in 15 to 20 minutes." Jack said.

 

* * * 10:48 AM * * *

 

Fareeha sat in the car, her white dress with it's pale leaf designs just barely hanging over her knees as she sat criss-cross in the back seat. She watched as her mom and Jack talked outside, both of them looking distressed about something. Her mom had seemed nervous about something ever since she came to pick her up from school early. Whenever she had asked her mom why, she had just said something like "it's not important for you to know right now". It was slightly frustrating to the 13-year old girl, not being able to know what was going on when it was pretty apparent that it was serious enough that she had to be taken out of school because of it.

After talking a little more the two of them went inside the house, leaving little Fareeha outside all on her own. Looking in the passenger seat, she saw her mom's security cap just sitting there. Without hesitation, she grabbed the hat and put it on, checking out her new look in the rear-view mirror and giggling at herself. She liked the hat, thinking it suited her well.

Then, Fareeha looked outside and saw someone walked along the road. They didn't look normal, though, as their head was hung over and they seemed to just be shuffling along, not really picking their feet up off the ground as they moved along. Fareeha rolled down the window a little bit, trying to get a better look at the person. When that didn't work, she went against everything her mother had told her about strangers and stepped out of the car, closing the door behind her.

"Mister? Are you alright?" She called out to the person, and soon wished that she hadn't gotten out of the car at all.

When the man turned to look at her, Fareeha was horrified by what she saw. The man's eyes were milky looking, like the eyes of a blind person would look. But even worse, the man had a gaping, bloody wound in the side of his neck, as if it had been ripped straight out. When the man, if you could even call him that, turned to face her, he started growling and gurgling as he started charging at Fareeha from the other side of the road, causing her to scream out.

"FAREEHA, GET AWAY FROM HIM!!" she heard her mom yell out as her, Jack and Gabe came running outside.

Thinking fast, Gabriel opened up his bag, pulled out a Mossberg 590 shotgun, and began firing at the man once Ana had grabbed her daughter and pulled her out of the way. He shot the guy once in the chest, but he kept coming. He shot again, straight in the chest, but once again it seemed to have no effect whatsoever. Finally, he aimed for his head and killed the man with a single shot. Meanwhile, Fareeha was shaking and starting to tear up from the horrifying event while Ana comforted her.

"Jack, that's the second one we've seen in the past twenty minutes."

"We have to go, now." Jack simply said to Gabe, who nodded in response and went to pack the bag of supplies they had gathered up in Ana's house. Jack, on the other hand, got his keys from Ana and went ahead and got the car started. Gabriel got up in the passenger seat, while Ana sat in the back with Fareeha as they drove off towards their last stop before they left.

 

* * * 12:02 PM * * *

 

Jack and Gabriel came out of the apartment building, and looked out at the chaos in the street in front of them. The street was completely packed with cars, and people were either crowding the sidewalks or making their way through the labyrinth of vehicles. Meanwhile, Ana and Fareeha were sitting outside of Jack's car.

"What the hell's going on?" Jack said as he and Gabe approached them.

"There was an evacuation message. It didn't say why, it just said that everyone in Franklin County has to get out, ASAP."

"I've got a pretty good idea why..." Gabe muttered, "and it's pretty clear we're not going to be driving anywhere."

"Then how're we going to leave?" Fareeha said, worry in her eyes and her voice.

Jack thought for a few moments, and then decided on the most logical solution.

"We need to grab our bags and get out of here on foot. Maybe we can hitch a ride with someone once we're out of the crowded area."

"Alright, let's get those out and hurry up." Gabe said.

Just then, the sound of someone yelling came from a few yards away. Turning to look, they saw a guy being tackled by someone else, the latter behaving in the exact same way as the elderly woman at Ana's house was. The sick person lunged their jaws down at the man, biting into the side of his face and pulling the flesh as he screamed in pain. Fareeha looked on in horror before Ana grabbed her and turned her away from the gruesome sight. Some bystanders grabbed the crazed person and pulled them off.

Another yell of pain could be heard as someone else was bitten, but the four of them weren't paying attention as they quickly grabbed their bags and hurried through the maze of cars and people, away from the violent scene now behind them.

 

* * * 1:44 PM * * *

 

Jack looked in horror at his wristwatch. He remembered what the files had said, '13:45, 1:45 PM'. Honestly, Jack had no idea what to expect would be coming. But then, the sound of a jet came from overhead. People looked up at the swift aircraft, along with a couple others, flying in over the Columbus skyline. However, the awe of the jets soon turned to panic as something dropped out of one plane, creating a massive fireball as the object made contact with the street below. And then another explosion, followed by yet another. People began to panic and run in all directions as fiery explosions of napalm kept popping up across the city.

"Holy _shit_ . Run, **NOW!** " Gabriel exclaimed as he took one of Ana's bags, allowing her to pick up Fareeha as they started running down the crowded streets. Around them, people were screaming and moving as fast as they could. Every so often, one of those sick people would attack someone, pouncing on them before ripping into their flesh.

And that's how this was all happening. Jack running, running for his life while Gabriel and Ana, Fareeha in her arms, ran alongside him. The sounds of explosions rang out around them, smoke and ash filled the air, and the screams and groans of hundreds of people, alive or not, sounded out throughout the city.

As they ran through the clouds of smoke and rubble, all Jack could think about was making sure all four of them got out of this alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is, the very beginning of the big story that I've been planning for a while now. And as you can see, this is just Volume One, and I have no plans for an end to this story anytime soon. Sorry to readers of my other two stories, but I think I'm going to be focusing in this story more from here on out. I'm not abandoning them, I'm just getting deep into this story. Anyways, if you like what you see don't forget to leave kudos and maybe even a bookmark or a comment if you really like it, (constructive criticism is welcome too), and stay tuned for the next chapter, "Wildfire", in which the four survivors learn that they're not alone...


	2. Wildfire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack, Gabriel, Ana and Fareeha are forced to fend for themselves in a dangerous new world, with limited supplies and little protection from the new threats. However, the quartet of survivors soon discover that they're not alone...

"Jack! I need to shoot, take my bag!" Gabriel shouted out, trying to be audible over the sounds of screaming people and the occasional aound of an explosion or of a building collapsing. Complying with Gabe's request, Jack quickly grabbed the suitcase that Gabriel had been carrying, allowing him to pull out his Mossberg, just in case any sick ones got too close.

They had managed to get out of the way of the large stampede of people, allowing them to move more quickly. However, their bags still slowed them down, and they needed to find a car they could drive off in, and they had to do it _fast_.

A few minutes of running and Gabriel shooting at least six or seven sick ones later, they managed to get up to where the cars weren't as dense. Seeing no infected in the area, Ana finally let Fareeha down.

"Now listen, you need to stay close to me, Jack and Gabe alright?" Ana said. Fareeha simply nodding fearfully.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you,  _habibti_."

"Hey! I found a car!" Jack called out from a few rows away, Gabriel by his side while Ana and Fareeha rushed over to the vehicle in question, a red minivan.

An explosion rang out from about a hundred yards down the highway, sending shrapnel and some fireballs hurtling over the area.

A piece of shrapnel came down right on Jack, causing him to stumble over as he let out a quick yell from the pain.

" _JACK!!!_ " Gabriel and Ana both shouted as came to his side. Luckily, the shrapnel hadn't penetrated him, rather it had grazed his face. However, the piece of metal had left a nasty gash on his face, running diagonally from the left side of his cheek and down to his chin.

"Damn, everyone get in the car!" Ana said, her and Gabriel throwing their bags in and Gabe getting in the driver's seat while Ana and Fareeha helped Jack into the back row, Fareeha sitting in the center row while Ana tended to Jack in the back seat.

"Fareeha, you buckled up?" Gabriel said as he turned on the car and shifted it into gear, Fareeha nodding in response.

"Okay, let's get the hell out of here." Gabriel said, making the tires screech from how hard he slammed on the accelerator, leaving the burning city behind them as he sped down US-33.

"Hang on a second, I've got to have something in here..." Ana said, rummaging around in the large bag for something. Within a few moments, she managed to grab a washcloth and a bottle of water, luckily still cold.

"Gabriel, slow down a bit! We're far enough away that you don't have to drive like a maniac." Ana barked at Gabe, who grumbled a little bit as he slowed down from around 90 mph to a more reasonable 50, considering there weren't any other cars around on the interstate.

"Okay Jack, I'm going to need to clean the wound before I can cover it up," she said as she started soaking the cloth with the cold water, "this'll probably sting a little bit, but nothing you can't handle I'm sure."

Jack was about to say something in agreement, but then he looked over at little Fareeha. She looked distrubed, to say the least. Staring off into space, a blank look with a hint of fear and uncertainty in her eyes.

"Actually, that's going probably going to hurt a lot Ana. I  _might_ need someone to hold my hand, just in case I need to squeeze something. And since Gabe's up front driving, I guess there's only girl for the job." Jack said, instantly grabbing Fareeha's attention.

"Really Jack, you need someone to hold your hand? It's just water." Fareeha said.

"Well, maybe. But just in case?" Jack said, stretching out his hand and smiling.

"Okay,  _fine_." Fareeha said with a slight smile, rolling her eyes jokingly as she took Jack's hand.

Ana smirked at the sight, and then got to work cleaning up Jack's wound. Every so often, Jack would flinch, pretending to be in pain as she rubbed the cloth over his wound.

Jack let out a fake hiss in pain, Fareeha smiling out of amusement as he squeezed her hand.

"Yeah, I'm sure glad you're here. This would be  _unbearable_ otherwise." Jack chucked.

"Just don't break my hand or mom's going to kill you." Fareeha giggled.

"She's right, I will." Ana said, smirking as she continued cleaning.

A couple more minutes of cleaning later, Ana decided that the amount of cleaning she had done should suffice.

"Okay, we've gotta have something around here to cover it up. Hold this over the wound." Ana said, giving Jack the cloth as she began looking around for something to cover Jack's gash.

"And... here we are." Ana said, managing to pull out a small roll of gauze.

"It's not much, but it's the best we've got for now." she said, pulling a large strap of the gauze pad over the wound and then securing it with some medical tape.

"Hey," Gabriel called out from up front, "you have a map or something?"

"Yeah I've got one. Stop the car so I can get up there." Ana said, Gabe complying as he slowly stopped the car and parked it.

"Hey, I can do this-" Jack started before Ana pressed a finger up to his mouth.

"No, you need to stay here and rest. That wound's not going to heal if you don't take it easy" Ana said, getting up and out of the car before getting into the passenger seat.

"So, any idea where we should be going?" Ana asked, opening up a map that showed most of Ohio.

"I say we just keep driving until we hit somewhere populated. I mean, here's gotta be others who got out before us." Gabe said.

"I sure hope so... okay so we should be coming up on Lanchester in about half an hour-"

 

* * * About 50 minutes later * * *

 

"Really, this place is empty too?" Jack said.

Earlier, the group had passed through the large town of Lanchester. Unfortunately, it seemed as though everyone had cleared out of there as well, as the only people they saw were several infected ones. Now, the group was driving into the village of Sugar Grove, and it seemed to be just as deserted.

"How the hell did people clear out this fast?" Gabe said to himself.

"Um, guys?" Fareeha said worriedly, referring to something in front of them. By the time Gabe and Ana had turned their heads to look, a large cloud of black smoke puffed out from under the hood of the car.

" _S_ _hit_." Gabriel muttered as he stopped the car and turned off the ignition.

"Alright, everyone out." Ana said as everyone hurriedly got out of the vehicle.

Jack and Gabe both went to inspect the engine, opening up the hood only to be met by another plume of smoke. The two of them, coughing, fanned away the black cloud before looking around in the engine.

"So what're we looking at here?" Gabriel said.

"Well it's not hot enough out for it to be overheating.. and the smoke was black, so it's gotta be an oil leak." Jack concluded.

"We got anything to fix that?"

"Pretty sure we do not..."

"Well shit, what're we going to do now?"

Jack stood there for a moment, thinking over the situation at hand before speaking outloud to all three of them.

"Alright, bad news team. The engine's got a leak and we don't have anything to fix it. Basically, our options are either we pack up and walk to the next town or we stay here and hope that someone who can help us comes through."

"Jack, considering we all really need a rest after..." Ana began, going silent for a few moments, "anyways, I think we should go with option number two for now."

"She's right. We've really had enough for one day." Gabe said in agreement.

"Right, sounds like a plan. We'll find somewhere in town to hold up for the night. We can just get into one of these houses and-"

"No!" Fareeha exclaimed, the three adults looking at her in surprise.

"What's the matter?" Jack said.

"I.. I don't like that, going into other people's houses. What if they come back?"

Jack was about to say something more realistic to the situation, that these people probably weren't coming back, but decided it would be best not to put Fareeha's hopes down right now.

"Okay, where do you think we should go?"

"How about... that church over there." she said, pointing towards the steple standing out over the other smaller buildings in the town.

"Hm, looks pretty good. Alrighty then, lead the way, Little Miss Security Guard." Jack said, poking the bill of the security cap still on Fareeha's head.

"Oh, do you want your hat back mama?" Fareeha asked, taking off the cap and handing it to her mother.

"Nah, you can keep it. It suits you well." Ana said, smiling as she took the hat and placed it back on her daughter's head.

"Well then, grab our bags and we'll try and make ourselves at home." Gabe said, making sure his shotgun was loaded before they started moving.

 

* * * Later that Night * * *

 

"I just realized something." Gabe said, him and Jack both laid back on their sleeping bags.

"Hm?" Jack turned his attention to Gabriel, raising an eyebrow.

"I forgot to smash my computer." Gabe chuckled out, both of them laughing quietly at the remark as not to wake up the other two sleeping nearby.

"Well pal, I'm not a hundred percent if you're going to get that chance again."

"Hey, I'm pretty sure that whatever all this is, it's not gonna last forever."

"Oh, no I just mean that it either got destroyed anyways or somebody's probably going to steal it."

The two men chuckled at that comment before going silent for a minute or two, staring off and reminiscing over everything that happened.

"You know, it's crazy. How fast all of this happened." Jack said, absentmindedly staring up at the ceiling of the church.

"Yeah, strange how this disease, or  _whatever_ it is, spread so fast too."

"Mhm, like a wildfire in a drought." Jack said, making Gabriel smirk a little.

"A wildfire in a drought? What're you a poet now or something?" Gabe quietly laughed, Jack simply shrugging in response and chuckling before silence filled the room one again.

"But seriously, it's pretty hard believing this all happened so.. so  _fast_." Jack said solemnly.

"Yeah, crazy as shit.. and poor kid, crying for like an hour before she finally went out." Gabe says, recalling when Fareeha finally started crying over everything, crying for the few friends she had at school and the life she once had. It was good in a way though, she was grieving properly. The other three would let their own grieving slip out eventually. But not right now. Right now, they had to be stay strong for each other, for Fareeha.

"Wait. Did you hear that?" Gabe suddenly said, sitting up straight.

"Hear wh-"

" _Shut up_ , listen." Gabriel hissed.

After another minute or two of silence, the two men heard a faint roar coming from another part of the town.

"Is that... a motorbike?" Jack asked.

The two men looked at eachother, Gabriel grabbing his gun as they both got up and crept out of the building. The sound of the motorcycle got slightly louder before stopping, and it sounded like it had stopped near their broken car. They quietly walked towards the area, only to have their suspicions confirmed.

It was hard to make out in the dark, but they could see the figure of a short, bulky man with a large beard and blonde hair looking around at the minivan. Meanwhile, a taller man who appeared to be wearing a large hat of some sort was leaning up against the bike, and seemed to be smoking.

"What're they doing?" Jack whispered.

"Hell if I know. Wait... is he stealing parts??" He said, watching the shorter guy dig around at the engine

"Gabe wait-" Jack started, but Gabriel was already rushing out from cover, shotgun ready.

" ** _HEY_** **,** **what the hell are you doing??** " Gabe yelled out at them as he approached, his deep, rough voice making it all the more threatening. The two figures turned to look at him, and raised their hand up in surrender, the man in the hat revealing that he had a handgun of some sort.

"Hey, we don't want trouble." The shorter man said, speaking in a Swedish accent. His large beard reached down to his chest, tied into two small braids at the very end. He wore a red tank-top, grey pants, grey shoes, and one of those motorcycle helmets with a liftable front. But, his most recognizable feature was that his entire right arm was a metal prosthetic one, painted red with silver joints.

"Don't want trouble huh? Sorry, but I'm calling bull **shit** on that. What're you doing looking through our car?"

"Well  _we_ didn't know it was  _yours_."

"Gabe!" Jack exclaimed as he approached them.

"Gabe, put the gun down. You heard them, they don't mean harm." Jack said.

Gabriel stared down at the two, and then muttered something under his breath before pointing the gun down.

"Look, I'll admit it, we  _were_ taking the car, we didn't know it was yours though! I was just trying to see what the problem was."

"What's going on here?"

The four men turned to look and saw Ana standing a few yards behind Jack and Gabriel, Fareeha standing behind her as she sleepily peeked out at them.

"You've got a kid?" The younger man said, talking in a thick southern accent. He approached them, revealing more of his features. He was wearing a brown long-sleeve with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, black pants, leather boots, a red bandana around his neck, a cowboy hat with his messy brown hair flowing out from under it, a triangular beard, and was indeed smoking a cigarillo.

"Yeah, we've got a kid." Gabriel said, still glaring at them.

"Um, gimme a second with my pal." He said, motioning the shorter one to come over towards him. They spent the next few minutes whispering back and forth before turning to face the group of four.

"Listen, we've got a camp. There's seven of us including me 'n Torby here." The young man said, dropping his cigarette on the ground and stepping on it.

"So, you're the leader right?" The shorter man, "Torby", said, pointing his direction at Gabriel.

"None of us are really a leader or anything." Jack said.

"Oh, well, you spoke first so I'll ask you." he said.

"Listen, we're all good people okay? We ain't like the others, so how about-"

"Others?" Jack said.

"Nevermind that right now, let's just get to the point. I'm a mechanic, and I've got tools back at camp. How about I come back tomorrow, and see if I can fix your car. I'll bring the RV in case I can't, but just have your things gathered up by sunrise and I'll get you out of here."

"Jack, how do we know we can trust these people?" Gabriel said.

"Has anyone done anything to make us  _not_ trust them, Gabe?" Ana said, walking up beside the two with Fareeha still sticking behind her.

"Well we don't know, they could-"

"Gabe, look, I know you just want us to be safe. But right now, we need to trust these people." Jack said, putting his hand on Gabe's shoulder. Gabriel was about to say something, but then thought over the situation for a moment. True, he had their only real weapon besides some kitchen knives, not to mention he didn't have many shells left, and they had only packed enough food to last them about two weeks, maximum.

"Alright, I'm in." Gabriel said, somewhat begrudgingly.

"Well that's good ta hear," the southern man said, "Gabe right?"

"Yes, I'd rather you call me Gabriel though."

"Alrighty then Gabriel. Name's McCree by the way, Jesse McCree." Jesse said stretching his hand out as a sign of partnership, which Jack accepted.

"I'm Jack." he said as he shook hands with the younger man.

"Torbjörn, and you are?" he said, directing is attention towards Ana.

"Ana," she said with that warm, motherly smile of hers, "and this is my daughter, Fareeha."

"Hi." Fareeha said sleepily, now standing beside her mother. Jesse and Torbjörn both smiled and waved to her.

"Hey, Gabriel," Torbjörn said, "how many shells you got left?"

"...not a lot." Gabriel said, hesitant to give out information like that to these strangers.

"Hm... hey, Jesse, how about you stay with these folks overnight? Make sure they'll be safe for the night."

"Well, if these folks are okay with it, I'll be glad ta."

"I think that sounds good. We don't have an extra sleeping bag, but you can use some of our blankets if you want." Ana said.

"Are we really-" Gabriel started before Ana shot him a glare that basically said 'would you kindly shut up?'.

"Right then, I'll be off now. Remember," Torbjörn called out as he started up his bike "get out here around sunrise, okay?"

"Yea, I'll make sure they get up nice 'n early." Jesse called out to his teammate. Within a few more moments, Torbjörn began riding out of the village and off onto the highway.

"Well, now that that's settled," Jesse said as he hostered his revolver, "let's get some shut-eye, hm? I'll be first watch."

"Oh, don't worry.  _I'll_ be first watch." Gabriel said.

"Gabe-"

"Nah, it's fine. I'm in need for some rest anyways. Now c'mon y'all, let's get ourselves inside."

All five of them then headed off to the church. Gabriel stayed outside, proping himself up against the door once the others had gone inside. Luckily for Gabe's sanity, this Jesse kid had already given him his revolver.

So Gabriel just stood there, two guns on him as he watched out for either the rising of the sun or anything the would try and hurt the people he cared about. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, we're going to be meeting the full cast of Volume One very soon. So, if you like what you see don't forget to leave some feedback, maybe even a comment telling me what you think! Anyways, stay tuned for the next chapter, "Where We Are", in which the survivors begin to learn more about the world around them.
> 
> (Also, before you ask, I'm not shipping Jack and Gabe. It's bromance not romance, sorry :p)  
> 


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